Ross Romaniuk, Winnipeg Sun

WINNIPEG - A high school teacher hopes to return to work after the staying of a sex charge based on a former student’s accusation against her.

The Pembina Trails School Division says it’s prepared to “welcome her back with open arms,” following nearly a year she’s been out of classrooms at Fort Richmond Collegiate.

Lawyer Josh Weinstein confirmed on Saturday that the sexual exploitation charge against his client, Regan Moses, has been stayed by Crown prosecutors.

“She’s elated now. To say she was distraught through this whole thing would be an understatement,” Weinstein told the Winnipeg Sun.

“Since day one when this came down, it weighed so heavily on her. It just didn’t stop. Every day I would see her, it was as if it was still the first day the allegation had been made.”

Moses, a social studies teacher, was charged by city police last January after cops investigated the male ex-student’s complaint for nearly a year. She has since been off the job on medical leave.

“She’s still dealing with all of this. I don’t know, in terms of a timeline, when she would get back to work. It’s really a matter of making sure she’s feeling well enough to go back,” Weinstein said of Moses, who began teaching at the south-end school in 1999.

“She really was very active within the school. At this point, I don’t know what her plan is. I know she wants to return to teaching. That’s for sure.”

Lawrence Lussier, superintendent for the division, anticipates no obstacles to Moses’ return.

“She still works for us. So when she’s ready to come back from leave, we’re ready to welcome her back,” Lussier said. “I imagine she would be ready perhaps as early as the beginning of our second semester.”

The complainant was a student at the school from 2006 to 2008, the period on which the allegation was based.

Weinstein didn’t speculate in detail on the Crown’s possible reason for staying the charge, though he suggested it would have likely been difficult for prosecutors to gain a conviction. Moses has stressed since the beginning, he said, that she “never, ever” did anything wrong.

“I believe they did the right thing,” he said of the Crown.

“I would think, in this case, that there was not a reasonable likelihood of conviction. She would have been a very strong witness, very adamant that nothing had happened.”